The Big Trip

Woke up at 4am with the rain POUNDING on the roof. EGads! We are going to get soaked! I had our alarm set for 4:30 so I rolled back over for a tad more sleep. Finally got moving about 5am, we tried to be very quite. Retired people like to sleep. <G> Lucky for us the rain stopped at 6am and held off for the rest of the day.

We arrived downtown 15 mins early for our assigned duties. We loaded up water, tables, and cups into the truck. Followed a local and set up six water points for the race. After setting all the points up we headed back to our assigned location. (at the college) We passed out water to the runners till about 9:30 and then headed downtown for the post race events.  Ray enjoyed passing out the water.

Did you know people drink beer at 9am?

Martha and Sam called and wanted to go to the flea market. Ray of course wanted to go. He LOVES the flea market. Four pairs of shorts, fuses, various parts and two t-shirts later we headed off in pursuit of food. Had a great lunch at a small marina and came hope for a well deserved nap.

I called Denny and Cheryl yesterday to see if they wanted to help with the half marathon also. We met these two last winter here in Key West. They live in Waynesboro , VA. They were excited about helping out, and glad we thought of them. Told them we would meet them there, we rode the bikes.

We arrived at the Turtle Crawl (a restaurant) for the pre race get together. You would have thought it was a hospitality room at a Legion convention! These people went through the beer and food like locusts. <G>

Shirts and assignments were handed out. They also held raffles for lots of free stuff. Ray nor I won anything… but… Cheryl won a pair of pink thong panties! Lucky for her she managed to swap them with another winner for a T-Shirt.

We stayed until 7:30. Rode the bikes home in the dark. I was POOPED when we got home. I did check the mileage and it is 1.5 miles just from the gate to the campground. I sure wish there was a way to find out how many miles we ride in a day.

Now I am cold. It rained off and on today and the temp has dropped to 67 degrees. Remember we do not have electricity. Hmm.. wasn’t I just complaining about being hot…

Wifi is now up and running. Something about Bellsouth replacing towers damaged last year in the hurricane.

Haven’t done much the last couple of days. Really feeling a tad out of sorts. Just having someone around you all the time is wearing me down a tad.

We will be working a water station on Sunday for the marathon. Hope to take a couple of pictures of that.

We did drive over to Stock Island to visit The American Legion., Wow! They sure have done a great job getting their bar/lounge rebuilt. The dinning room should be finished by winter. The still have some camping spots available, not a bad deal for $20 when it is $125 just one Key up.

Last but certainly not least.. thank goodness my sister checked my house. (remember I forgot to empty the bread drawer)   The power went out on the side of the kitchen my fridge is plugged in to.. thus there was quite a mess from the freezer stuff thawing out..  Thank goodness her and my favorite brother in law cleaned up the mess so I didn’t have a AWFUL smell in my house upon our return.  Thanks Sue and Lee!!

I know I shouldn’t complain when the people at home are experiencing snow. But, It is really hot here. We went for a bike ride this morning down to the marina. I was sweating like crazy by the time we got back.  We did find out that boats are available for rental this year. We hope to take advantage of that for at least an afternoon. Cost is pretty high$135 for half day. The boats will hold six, so maybe we can find others to share the cost.

I volunteered Ray and I to help with a 1/2 marathon next sunday. Hey, there is free food and drink, AND a T-Shirt. The race will be downtown Old Key West, I didn’t know there was an Old Key West.   I hope to take a couple of pictures and will post them.

WiFi doesn’t work in the campground. Have to go to the ITT office to connect. The trade off is they have air-conditioning. I did tell you it was hot right?

Ray took this great picture of a brown wood stork in the Everglades.  If you look real close you can see the fish he just caught.  What a great shot!

We finally got on the road at 0940. Not a bad start.

So far I have only had to call my sister once to go save the grapes in my fridge. I had purchased them the night before we left so we could have them for a snack in the truck. We had stopped at Food Lion the night before our departure to check for a specific type of wine for our friends already in Key West. Well, while there I bought this small bunch of grapes Ray was aghast when he was told it would be $3.88. I picked them of the stems, washed them, and put them in two individual baggies. Set them on the shelf in the fridge that I had just cleaned out.. I must have opened up the refrigerator at least three times prior to our departure. And, still left them there. Really didn’t want to come back to baggies of goo.. so I called my sister. She is due yet another call to rescue food at our house. Both Ray and I thought we had emptied the bread drawer. Could be really ugly in 8 weeks.

We stopped in Fayetteville as we did last year to visit my dear friends Bobby and Don. Watching the evening news we found there was an ice storm heading our way. Rats! We planned to leave at 4am to try to beat the ice. We ended up leaving around 2:30 in the morning. Ray had to get up.. we know why.. and said since he was awake, we might as well hit the road. We slipped out of the house and were on the road.

We drove and drove and drove. Since we left at 2:30 by the time it was lunch we had already been on the road for way more than our normal travel day. We were only about an hour from The Villages. We decided to call ahead and see if they could give us a tour that afternoon. Yep, we got the go ahead. So.. we decided to drive the extra miles and check the place out.

The Villages – What a great place to retire. The thing we liked the most was all the clubs/group planned activities. Also, there is an Adult learning center with scads of classes in a large variety of topics. The Villages, is really a small city with all the things a city needs to include its own hospital. We really liked it.

We left early on Friday and headed to the Everglades. It was 87 degrees when we arrived. Shorts out! Long pants put away. After we set up we grabbed Ray’s new camera and headed over to Royal Palms to get some pictures. Truck parked, camera in hand we headed out to the boardwalk. Ooops… camera battery is dead. Ha! Back in the truck for the drive back to the campground to retrieve the extra battery. We made it back to Royal Palm in plenty of time to take a few pictures. It wasn’t as full of wildlife as last years’ visit. But, it was later in the year, and things were a lot drier.

Got up this morning and headed south. It really was a short day for us. Only three ours in the Truck. Thank goodness. We are both cranky. Lots of mix ups on where to park once we got here. But, we are now settled.

We have already run into many people that we met last winter. For us this is a major part of the attraction of this winter spot.
Ray has already gone into the other room to lie down and watch a movie. It is only 7pm! I will let you know what time he gets up and starts rattling around.

I am packed!  All my toys are loaded.  I am ready to hit the road.

 Ray on the other hand.. is not.   I feel the need to share a story with you… Ray had assured me all his stuff was was in the trailer… Yep, he had his underwear and socks in the right place..  but when I was in the process of putting my clothes away.. I noticed he only had one pair of cords and two t-shirts on the shelf.  When I asked him where his clothes were.. he was sure happy I doubled checked.  Hmm, maybe he just wanted a new wardrobe and I nixed his plan. <G>

Sparky is starting to get nervious every time we leave the house.  He knows we have been putting stuff in the trailer and he is determined to not get left behind.  Right.  Like that would happen.

Yep, sometimes I just have to count the days differently. 

Work has been REALLY slow.  I know from experience that is just the low tide prior to the FLOOD of work that will be arriving shortly.  Mixed feelings about that… if they are going to submit database changes then bring it on.  I know of three systems that have changes in the works…  I am dreading this stuff all showing up on Friday! 

Have a Boys State meeting this Saturday, pack the trailer on Sunday/Monday; work on Tuesday to assign the work pending.. then we hope to be on the road Wednesday morning!

Woo Hoo!!

BTW… the picture at the top was taken by me last winter in Key West.